Lyme disease is one the rise, especially on the East coast. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expect it to get worse this year as the weather warms up. Here’s what to do if a tick, the blood-sucking harbinger of the disease, makes a snack out of you. The first thing you should do when you find a tick, says Dr. Brian Fallon of the Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Research sect at Colombia University Medical Center, is remove it carefully. Use tweezers to go under the head of the tick and pull it out from its mouth that’s embedded in the skin. Be extra careful not to squeeze the body of the tick. After that, here’s what you do: Keep the tick! If you start to show symptoms, a lab might be able to test it for Lyme. You can put it in a plastic bag. Check the CDC’s Lyme map or your local state health department web site. See if Lyme is present in your community, or where you went hiking, camping, etc. Monitor your health and the bite wound. If you begin to exhibit flu-like symptoms, unusual arthritis pain, or a red rash around the bite area, go see a doctor immediately. Fortunately, most people who get Lyme disease from ticks recover fully after being administered antibiotics. The earlier you catch it, however, the better off you’ll be, so it’s important to take these precautions. Source
